A Way Back Home
by HuaiLang
Summary: Six months have passed since Queen Elsa of Arendelle ripped up the Treaty of Trade with Weselton; however, several nations have declared a holy war to remove the Snow Queen who is accused of being in league with the Dark Powers. After a harrowing battle with a vile witch, Elsa finds herself on a new world where she must embark on a quest to return home before it's too late.
1. Chapter 1

_**Author's Note: For those of you who are familiar with my Rise of Evil series, yes, I do use that world to tell this story; however, this is fanfiction, so it's not canon with my actual series.**_

_**Enjoy!**_

…_**...**_

_**A frozen heart is a dead heart.**_

—**Proverb from the Archduchy of Weselton**

**Chapter 1: The True Cost of Power**

"It is as we feared, Your Majesty. The Southern Isles have declared war on us and the Holy Sovereign Authority has labeled you in league with the Dark Gods due to your … _powers_," said the general who sported his medals of valor and duty to the kingdom of Arendelle. Unfortunately, those medals were mostly ceremonial as no one in chamber waged battle in their lifetime.

"Damn," muttered Her Majesty, the Austere Queen of Arendelle, Elsa, as she studied the map of her kingdom before her, many tokens of enemy placements as well as her own army positioned on it. She stood in the assembly hall now converted into the kingdom's war room as Arendelle hadn't executed war in over a century. The ornate drapes and paintings of the previous generations of peaceful rulers contrasted with the large cherry wood table where all of Arendelle's military leaders stood along with Princess Anna and her husband, Kristoff.

Elsa glanced up at the two largest portraits, her mother and father, staring down at her, their serene soft smiles granting her a sliver of peace in these troubled times. Louder, she asked, "Then what of the Duke of Covington?"

The general's face, despite his large gray beard, thick mustache and eyebrows, fell as he raised a rolled up a scroll. "I have his withdrawal of support right here. With the Secottian Elder's excommunication of all of Arendelle, the devout duke dares not go against the Secottian's edicts."

"Then what do we have then, gentlemen?" asked their queen, her hands planted on the table.

The older man pointed at a dozen ships on the map, not too far from the capital. "Weselton's entire navy sits outside our bay. Four heavy war galleons with eight cutters. They are using icebreakers and dragon's oil to chip away the ice you've conjured. It doesn't seem their efforts is paying off, but that will be a different story upon the arrival of the first spring thaw." He moved the pointing rod to the south and east borders of the map. "The Southern Isles has mobilized and sent a token force to the ground troops already at our eastern borders, but the Finjinward have recently taken Stallgaard Keep. It looks like they will use it as a provisional base and fortify it to keep their supply lines running. I think they will wait out the rest of the winter unless Covington sends troops and supplies."

"We lost Stallgaard Keep?" asked Elsa, her voice incredulous. She cast a concerned glance at her sister, Anna, who also looked on with a worried expression. The enemy was now within the borders of Arendelle, something that has _never_ happened.

The general straightened. "We hadn't staffed the keep to full capacity in over five decades. It consisted of only a complement of a hundred soldiers who possessed no training. I can assure you, Your Majesty, that when the Finjinward marches to Jutengaard, they will have a harder fight ahead of them. I've already position heavy catapults on the battlements."

"What about our men?"

"They are untested, Your Majesty. We haven't fought a war in over a hundred and ten years, and the mountains haven't had any monsters since the founding of Arendelle by the Snow Queen herself."

"You're sure that Jutengaard is their next target?"

"It has to be. If the City of the Great Oak falls, then it's Valefrost Hold and then the capital. Finjinland is throwing everything they have to make the push. So far, Duke Covington has resisted the calls to open his borders for the Holy Sovereign's troops, but that will happen by the end of this winter. Our spies have indicated that the Covington parliament debated the measure and it was narrowly defeated with some hoping that the Secottian Elder will make an appearance to offer an impassioned plea. If he does that, the duke will be forced to declare war on us as well."

Elsa stared at the map, the silence around the table deafening. Six months have passed since she revoked the treaty with the Duchy of Weselton and exiled Prince Hans back to his homeland in the Southern Isles. Word spread of her sorcery, many of her own populace reacting with stoic reservation. Now this. Three formal declarations of war with the divine backing of the Holy Sovereign Authority. Luckily for Arendelle, her enemies mobilized quickly during the winter, granting Elsa the advantage, but she still struggled with her powers from time to time. Impassible blizzards, the ice-ladened Arendelle Bay, and the insurmountable Pass of the Northern Mountains proved too much of a strain on her at times.

Despite her efforts to protect her people, the accusations came: the Queen of Arendelle fornicated with the Dark Powers in her own bedchambers, allowing her body to defiled in foul ecstasy to sell her soul for magic. Such ridiculous nonsense! Her own church hierarchy within the kingdom tried to stir the populace against her crown, forcing her hand to arrest them on charges of treason. Currently, forty clergy, some of them who provided her spiritual advice ever since she was a little girl, now rotted in her dungeons until she decided what to finally do with them. Their execution warrants sat unsigned on her desk upstairs as she hoped in desperation she wouldn't affix her seal anytime soon.

Even now as she met the worried stares of her four generals, their chiefs of staff, and adjunct commanders, at least half of them betrayed their stance on their queen by their skittish looks, worried that their souls and the souls of their children would forever suffer the ravages of the Torment. Elsa possessed enemies _within_ her kingdom too. She tread on thin ice.

"Very well, General Holdenbrook. The kingdom thanks you for your report. Please keep me apprised of any further developments. Consider yourselves dismissed for the evening, and no one is to disturb me unless bringing dire news."

The militiamen bowed, their boots clicking hard together. Some proffered their bow slower than others, their eyes hard and cold like an Arendelle winter.

_Those men will have to be watched, possibly relieved of command,_ Elsa thought as they filed out of the room, leaving her alone with her sister and her husband.

"Why are you still here? This is no place for you and Kristoff. You should leave as well."

"My place is by your side, beloved sister," said Anna, her hand on her bulging stomach, the child growing within. It's been a season since they announced the coming of a royal heir; especially as Elsa hasn't taken a suitor of her own. No one in all the continent would dare consider themselves a potential suitor to Arendelle's queen these days.

Elsa should have acted upon the Duke of Covington's proposal almost a year ago as the union would have provided mutual benefits to both trade and security against Weselton, but that unraveled as the man thirty years her senior formally rescinded his offer, expelling her ambassador on the basis of her magical might. Her hand balled up, ice blossoming out from her fist onto the table.

"Your hand," said Anna, her tone soft as she gestured to the table.

"I know. I'm wrestling with my emotions at the moment!" Elsa turned her back, storming to the window, throwing open the drapes. Half-turning to the couple behind her, the queen commanded, "I wished to be alone now."

"Come wife, let's grant her peace," said Kristoff, his arm wrapped around Anna's shoulder, motioning toward the door.

She spared him a glance, almost ready to defy him, but she relented without a word. She offered a small bow to Elsa. "Your Majesty."

Elsa nodded in response.

Kristoff followed after saying the same. The door closed with a heavy click, silence reigning in the room, save the heavy crackling of wooden embers in the fireplace.

Elsa sighed at her curt dismissal of her sister and Kristoff. "Ah, how times were so much simpler when we were children playing in the gathering hall." She shook her head.

The queen returned to the table, glaring at the enemy positions.

"There is a way out," she said to herself, her tone delicate.

Abdication.

Elsa would announce she would abdicate the throne, bequeath her sister the title of Queen Regent until the birth of her child which then shall be the rightful ruler of all of Arendelle. It would be the only way to save Arendelle from occupation by Finjinland, the Southern Isles, and Weselton. Covington would be forced to demand the forces already in Arendelle's borders to withdraw; especially once word reaches the courts that the Queen Regent has exiled Elsa.

For her sister, she would do that, because she didn't see how General Holdenbrook could carry out his directives with men who could barely put the pointed end of a sword in another man's chest. Arendelle's soldiers were no cowards, but they were not battle-tested. Arendelle needed serious firepower in the form of heavy catapults, capable of decimating calvary and archer units in one fell swoop.

Elsa had none of that.

She turned away from the map, waving her hand in a fluid motion, a frosty air emanating from her fingers. In a breath, the temperature in the chamber dropped precipitously, snuffing out the flames in the lit lanterns, the chandeliers above, and killing the flames from the hearth. The rays from the waning sun filtering through frosted windows provided the sole source of light.

Elsa slumped in a plush wooden chair, kicking off her white silken slippers. She studied the chair, a gift provided by one of the most renowned artisans of all of Arendelle, his large manor not even a stone's throw from the royal castle. Her fingers traced the bas relief of dragons, cavorting elves, and twisting fey leaves, the detail of such work not seen in many years and unlikely to be replicated by any other of her country's woodworkers.

The man who spent months painstakingly crafting it had been dead for almost a week now, hung by order of the magistrate for taking part in a minor insurrection. Elsa still carried his death warrant in the folds of her regal gown, a reminder of the dark times she lived in and how things can turn so much worse in the future.

How many more must die by her hand to cement her rule? She didn't ask for these powers, this magic supposedly from the original Snow Queen who founded the land of Arendelle, its word in their ancient tongue meaning, "Land of Snow and Death."

Was that what she was to become? Another Snow Queen like her ancestor, commanding magic controlling the elements and wielding the power of death? Arendelle's history is well-documented of the founder's penchant for cruelty, carnal appetites, and atrocious evil.

The door burst open, disturbing the queen's thoughts. "I expected … Captain Jarlick, why are you—"

Elsa didn't have a chance to finish her statement as she faced off against one her captains who moments earlier stood in the war room. He had been as still as a gravestone throughout the entire proceeding.

In his hand was a long throwing knife, its blade possessing an oily sheen. The assassin wouldn't have to plunge the blade in her heart, a simple nick would carry out the desired result as the fast-acting _cryoleth_ poison would kill her within minutes.

"For Arendelle!" cried the captain as he reared back and launched his blade with deadly precision.

"No!" screamed Elsa, her hands shooting a barrage of icy spears, slapping away her attacker's weapon in mid-air, while more continued their path.

The captain didn't utter a sound as the magical lances pierced him through his chest, groin, and head, knocking him off his feet, pinning him against the door with a heavy thud. His body spasm about a foot off the floor, the thick icicles holding him firm. Crimson gore stained the ice turning it to a pure scarlet as it soaked up the man's blood.

Elsa stood there panting, her hands outstretched, soreness creeping in every muscle. The sudden burst of her power exacted a heavy price, her heart ready to burst, a sense of lightheadedness forcing her legs to wobble. She couldn't afford to pass out now.

In a brief moment, the ice broke, the captain's body slumping to the floor as the double-doors to the chamber pushed open, knocking the body aside. Several guards stormed the chamber, silvery swords in hand. Elsa conjured her own ice-hardened weapon in case these men posed as loyal subjects but in actuality the captain's backup plan.

"Are you alright, Your Majesty?" asked the lead commander, a sergeant by his rank and decorative aiguillettes.

"Throw down your weapons and kneel!" Elsa commanded.

The men obeyed, the clank of metal striking hard on the floor. They knelt with heads bowed.

Calmer, she asked, "Where the two guards who were manning my door?"

"They are still here, Your Majesty," said the sergeant.

"Arrest them on the charge of treason. You shall have them questioned and if their guilt has been determined, hang them without delay at The Square."

The sergeant looked to meet her vicious glare, and he cast his gaze back down. "The Square, Your Maj—"

"Yes! In The Square, so all of Arendelle shall know that insurrection shall be met with no mercy, no forgiveness! I desire my enemies to know who they are dealing with." She pointed at the body next to them. "Take Captain Jarlick and strip him down to his small clothes. Then cut him up into pieces and send them to the Duke of Weselton who is no doubt stuck on one of those war galleons in the bay. Let that weaseling old bastard know whom he's dancing with once his ships pulled in my harbors!"

"It … it shall be done as you say, Your Majesty." The man's voice cracked.  
"Find Princess Anna, ensure she and her husband are safe."

"Your Majesty, I had already personally ordered a squadron to check on her before I stormed these doors."

"Excellent. It shall be noted in your commendation then. Consider yourself promoted to the rank of commander sergeant."

"Yes, Your Majesty. I am honored and grateful."

"One other thing. Rise, commander sergeant," said Elsa, her voice calmer now, her breathing returning to normal. She still felt stiff in her arms, but the pain ebbed away.

"Yes, Your Majesty?"

"Upon my desk is forty warrants for execution. Bring them and my seal. Justice shall be done this night."


	2. Chapter 2

_**Fools accept false hopes over harsh realities.**_

—**Arendelle proverb**

**Chapter 2: A Harsh Reality**

The snow fell in clumps, the wind picking up, Elsa having nothing to do with it though she appreciated the heavy fall. _Anything to prevent those bastards from gaining so much as a Creator-damned inch of ground_, she thought. The sun pierced the gray clouds at moments, dawn well over two hours ago. The remnants of her breakfast laid half-eaten next to a stack of papers—request for supplies at the war front, status of the remaining funds in the Royal Treasury, reports of banditry in the northern parts of the kingdom, and reports from her spies from across the continent. None of it was good news, little of it she could weigh as neutral news, but most of it bore the unmistakable stench of dire news. At least she heard no new reports of assassination plots, no reports of insurrection.

As she suspected, the two guards who manned the doors outside the war room were in on the former captain's plot. The newly promoted commander sergeant left a report this morning of their confessions along with several other names of accomplices.

Elsa entertained a thought of asking her subordinate to personally relay that report to her. Perhaps in her bedchambers where they should speak in private, away from prying eyes. She would not have to bother with donning a royal dress, instead wearing her silken nightgown, the one made mostly of sheer white lace. Her sergeant wouldn't need to come in uniform either as she would like to see if he challenged himself physically given his broad shoulders and thick arms, and those hands—those strong hands capable of firmly running up her legs, his hungry lips violating her loins, making their way up her own, pulling at her nightgown to expose her supple breasts ...

"What am I doing?" asked Elsa to herself aloud, almost as if ready to lose her breath. Her cheeks turned red as if already caught seducing that handsome soldier. She felt doubly embarrassed when she learned that man this morning also had a young wife and daughter as well. Could she be so crass as to use her station and authority to usurp that man's marriage oaths?

A disturbing thought struck her. The founding Snow Queen, Snedronningen, also possessed lustful appetites. She even had a dungeon stocked with all manor of men, women, and _creatures_ to satisfy whatever desire overtook her. Was Elsa doomed to walk in Snedronnigen's shadow?

Elsa grimaced, her fingernails digging into her palms as she balled them into fists. She occupied her mind, purging carnal thoughts by reading the rest of the report regarding the assassins.

Right now, soldiers conducted a door-to-door search for the men named. They'll be found … and hanged. Elsa sighed to herself, scanning the other papers, signing off on the requests for materials to build more catapults. _As if that will be utilized in time. _Still, Elsa had to give the appearance that action was taken, decisions were made.

Anna stormed into the study, glancing around until her eyes fell on her target—her sister.

She bowed, but only to offer the perfunctory salutations. "Your Majesty," she said through gritted teeth, her gaze to the floor.

Elsa set her quill in the ink bottle before her, steepling her hands on the desk. She knew exactly what this argument would be about—the queen anticipated it.

"Rise, my beloved sister. Kristoff not joining us—"

"Elsa, stay your hand. Please, I beg of you, don't go through this!" cried Anna.

The princess and the queen faced off in Elsa's royal study. Already, Anna was flustered after having to deal with her own contingent of bodyguards who matched step with her everywhere this morning, and then had to deal with the queen's own guards, doubled in numbers outside her door.

"Calm yourself, sister. Don't put your child at risk from your emotions. I've already signed their warrants. What's done is done. We are at war and what I do will be for the safety of Arendelle, and most of all, you," said the queen, her tone flat and regal, the same tone she typically takes to her _subjects_.

"Is there any other way? Must you condemn Friar Barthem and Sister Kella?"

"Yes, damn you!" Elsa hissed. "Do you think I enjoyed signing those last night? I even cried myself when I reached Barthem and Kella's names. I too remembered the wonderful memories, Friar Barthem playing with us in the courtyard, throwing snowballs, and building our own miniature castle. I remember Sister Kella letting us sleep in her bed to provide us that desperately needed solace upon the dire news of mother and father.

Elsa's face hardened. "But I also remembered their sermons, how I am a whore, a carnal snake, slurping up the seed from the cocks of the Dark Powers in order to carry on the legacy of our ancestor, the founding Snow Queen herself. I tolerated it at first, shocked that our beloved clergy … our beloved friends would say this about me. Then the church began to organize, this no longer shocked words from the beliefs of holy edicts." She paused, nearly out of breath. With a softer tone, she said, "I cannot let this pass, Anna."

"Then exile them, Elsa! If you kill them, don't you think that will embolden the others to the Church's cause against you? The Secottian Elder is looking for more excuses to continue his firebrand on your so-called 'alliance with the Dark Powers.' Word will reach his ears and he will use it as opportunity to preach that only great evil … evil that cannot stand the purity of the light, would slay the devout of the Holy Sovereign Authority." Anna closed the distance between her and her sister, kneeling down at her chair. "Don't give him the opportunity. Like you, I know what the stakes are. I too saw that map last night. I too know we cannot win this war. Yes, you could throw this land back into an eternal winter, but then your own people will rise up against you before they surely starve to death."

Elsa thought for a moment, turning away from her sister. "No, my mind is made up. They face the Creator come dawn."

Anna scowled, pacing away from the desk.

"Don't leave just yet. We are not done here," said Elsa.

Red in the face, the princess shouted, "To do what? You said you made up your mind! You doom us all!"

Elsa narrowed her eyes, but blew out a breath. "There is one way to save our people."

"That being?"

"You will stage a coup and seize the throne."

Anna choked on her next words, disbelief in her voice. "I shall do what? I will not lead troops against you!"

Elsa bolted out of her chair, slamming her fists on her desk. Thick layers of ice erupted from her palms, draping the furniture and part of the lush carpeted floor. "Listen to me. It will be a bloodless coup, but our people as well as the other crowns must believe it to be the case. After the deaths of the clergy, you will take General Holdenbrook and his best men. You will state publicly I've gone too far, and renounce me."

"I will not!"

"You must if you wish for your child to be brought into this world alive, or you will burn at the stake along with me!"

Anna gasped, her bottom jaw quivering.

Elsa didn't relent. "Answer me this. When the Finijnward storm into these castle walls, do you think they will grant you quarter on the basis you're with child? No. Expect the first contingent of soldiers to come in, throw you to the floor, and ravage you right in the throne room, forcing Kristoff to watch before they run him through with a sword."

"Don't say such things!"

"I say this because this is what _will_ happen if you do not follow my plan. Everything, and I mean, everything, Anna, rests on my hold on Arendelle's throne and its crown upon my head." She pointed downstairs in the direction of the Royal Seat. "If I am no longer sitting there, then you, along with everyone in this kingdom, have a chance to retain the sovereignty of our great nation." Elsa paused. "Don't be a fool. This is our only hope. _You're_ our only hope."

The two sisters stared at one another, Elsa's glare loomed hard, cold, while the bottom of Anna's eyes prickled with tears. Anna turned her head, no longer willing, or able to meet the queen's eyes.

With a broken whisper, the younger sister asked, "What must I do?" A thick tear rolled down her cheek.

"As I said, you will be outraged from the death of the clergy. You will then march in my bedchambers, place me under house arrest, and force me to sign a Writ of Abdication, naming you the rightful ruler. Because you're my sister, all witnesses will think I wouldn't dare use my powers against my own flesh-and-blood, a gamble you will vocally state aloud, but one that will play right into your hands. I will be tried, found guilty of sorcery and defiance of the Holy Sovereign Authority, and beg for your mercy. If you do have the heart, you shall exile me to the North Mountain. However, if you wish to take my life, it is yours. Anything to end this war before all of us are thrown in chains."

Anna said nothing, her eyes widening in shock, perhaps terror of the plan, and the dawning realization that she would be queen, when only six months ago, she was a young girl, barely reaching the age of womanhood, and desiring nothing other than finding true love. She found it, Kristoff having proved himself a wonderful and dutiful husband, tackling his new duties as brother-in-law to the throne with a devout heart. Despite him coming from simple iceman roots, he exhibited no fear of Elsa's powers and shouted down any man who dared uttered a voice against the crown.

Elsa surmised all this. Now, Anna has to rule, and she had married a _commoner_, not expecting at the possibility she would sit upon Arendelle's throne.

"Elsa … I cannot. My marriage to Kristoff … You were always the strong one …"

"Anna, we've had precedent regarding your marriage, so do not worry about having to end your vows. You do not. As for me, I am to be exiled to the North Mountain where my ice palace still remains. I am not leaving our motherland. If you need my advice on ruling, you are more than welcome to visit me, but you shall have capable advisors whom I've come to rely upon the affairs of state. Listen to them and work on forming alliances, for this will not be the last you hear of the Duke of Weselton once he's been ordered to return to his homeland after my exile."

Elsa moved around her large, desk, crafted from the rarest timbers far to the arctic north. She joined her sister, lifting Anna's chin to hers. Elsa kissed her with a gentle caress of her lips, always a sign of their close bond of devoted sisters. "I love you, Anna, with all my heart. I too wished this power never came upon me, but it has. There will always be those who fear what they don't understand, what I can do, or they consider me a threat to their own power." She moved her hand to her sister's bulging stomach. "I would gladly sacrifice my life in exchange that you and your firstborn shall live. It is why this must be done."

Anna threw her arms around her sister, her queen. Elsa felt the shoulder where her sister buried her head moistened from hot tears. For a while, she sobbed, her body shaking. The queen kept her own arms wrapped around her.

After the sobs died down, Elsa said, "It must be done."

"I pray to the Creator you're right, sister. I would never forgive myself if I took part in a plan that destroyed our only hope to keep our enemies away."


End file.
